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Liesel’s Birthday!

My big girl is four years old! We had a wonderful little celebration for her. Her big gift was a new doll. She’d been playing with the dolls I had as a child, but their hair is a disaster, their eyes don’t open and shut well anymore, and James has an allergic reaction whenever they are waved around the living room. I found out about Corolle dolls, designed in France, who have hair that can be brushed and washed. I finally settled on a doll, ordered her, and then got busy in the evenings to make the doll a wardrobe which matched Liesel’s. I had so much fun putting it all together! Just a few days before her birthday, Liesel brought my old doll Katie to me and asked me to brush her hair. I had to hide my grin as I explained that it was too knotted and there was nothing I could do.

On the day of Liesel’s birthday, James put together a cake inspired by her love for worms and chocolate. We made a chocolate bunt cake with chocolate frosting and put chocolate pudding in the middle, with worms crawling out! Liesel was thrilled. She also loved the doll. She adored the matching clothes. When it came to naming the doll, it took a couple of days, but she finally decided on Smelly, because of the sweet vanilla scent on her. I guess she takes after her parents and picks unusual names 🙂 Smelly sleeps with Liesel every night, in matching pajamas, and she has her hair brushed regularly.

We didn’t expect our 3 boys to be nearly as excited about the doll as Liesel was. Of course, they’ve always had dolls to play with as babies are a normal part of our daily life but none compared to Smelly. I caved and bought some used Gotz (German brand) and Corolle dolls off ebay for them. It made sense since the kids do everything from wrestling to coloring to Legos to Playmobile together. Once we received the 3 other dolls in the mail, they’d sit in a circle and brush their dolls’ hair together, or wrap them in blankets and take them on a picnic. I love those kids! Happy Birthday to Liesel!